Wrapping up Khorsabad

Fig. 1 - Sargon and a Courtier

     I just want to wrap up the series of posts I have been doing about the Assyrian capital Khorsabad by mentioning that not all of the objects went to the Oriental Institute in Chicago. The Louvre Museum has several winged bulls and a number of reliefs from Sargon's city and has displayed them quite beautifully in their "Assyrian Court". I have posted on these objects before (October 7, 2012), but I am showing them again to close out this topic.

Fig. 2 - Assyrian courtier from Khorsababd 

     One large wall relief shows Sargon and an Assyrian courtier (Figure 1). I find their beards fascinating for some odd reason or another (Figures 2 and 3). Notice how they are curled at the top of the beard from the sideburns down to the chin. From that point on the hair alternates in different types of curls and braids. Last but not least, notice the large bulge of hair at the base of the neck and how the hair above it is braided until we lose site of it under the figures head dresses.

Fig. 3 - Sargon II from Khorsabad

Sargon (Figure 3) also were one of the Assyrian "wristwatches" on his right wrist. Both men wear large earrings.

Fig. 4 - Logs Being Taken from Byblos

     Figure 4 is a completely different type of carving. It shows logs being taken from Byblos (in what is now Lebanon). Wood from this area was highly prized by both the Egyptians and the Assyrians. This scene shows logs being floated (along a river I assume). Some of the logs are being towed by a boat. All of this wood would have been taken to Khorsabad as tribute from Byblos and used in the construction of the city.